For every dollar spent on coaching organisations typically receive a 6x return, according to the Manchester Review, a landmark study on the impact of coaching.
Despite the rise in prominence of leadership coaching in corporate L&D programs over the past few decades, many senior leaders and C-suite remain in the dark about the return on investment (ROI) of coaching.
As organisations increasingly turn to digital coaching to provide personalised growth opportunities to develop their people, it is more important than ever to measure, evaluate, and effectively communicate the quality and outcomes of these leadership programs.
Organisations that undertake coaching report increased performance, greater retention, boosted job satisfaction, and improved contributions to the bottom line.
However, when it comes to measuring the overall value of coaching and distilling the ROI to a numerical value, it can be difficult to get it right.
At Hellomonday, we understand this dilemma for HR professionals first-hand. That’s why we created an ROI calculator to help organisations estimate the potential returns they can expect from coaching dependent on average turnover, number of leadership development participants, and average salaries.
Together, let’s explore why it’s so important to measure the ROI of coaching, some of the challenges in measuring the impact, and how you can leverage our ROI calculator to make a compelling business case to invest in coaching.
Why demonstrating the ROI of coaching is important
Businesses are feeling the knock-on effect of inflation, economic contraction, and the speculation of a looming global recession. In an era of slower growth, leaders are expected to deliver less with more. As budgets tighten, HR professionals need to make a strong case to retain and grow their L&D budgets.
Without a unified framework to measure the impact of coaching, historically the evaluation of coaching’s effectiveness has been difficult. This has led to inaccuracies and confusion on the true impact of coaching.
As data-driven insights underpin any organisation’s strategic investments and growth, HR professionals need to accurately quantify the value of coaching across an organisation and tangibly demonstrate its ROI. Otherwise, they risk missing out on budget to implement leadership development programs with proven results.
In order to do this, HR professionals must make a compelling business case for an investment in coaching grounded research, data, and industry-leading insights. At Hellomoday, we appreciate this is a time-intensive exercise for HR teams who are typically juggling a-million-and-one priorities at any given time. To take the leg out of this, we’ve developed resources to help make a compelling business case for coaching.
The challenges in measuring leadership coaching ROI
Calculating the ROI of coaching isn’t a walk in the park, and here’s why:
Data overload
The quantitative aspects, like comparing employee turnover rates before and after the programme, can be a logistical challenge. Moreover, these figures, like employee turnover rates, need context. A drop post-programme sounds great, but what external factors also played a part?
The intangibles
Then there’s the qualitative data. Surveys and questionnaires give a voice to the softer outcomes, but there’s a degree of subjectivity involved. For instance, if leadership scores improve after coaching, how do we ensure this is a direct result and not influenced by other factors? Assigning a direct and tangible ROI to higher engagement is challenging, even though you can be confident that improved engagement is correlated with higher productivity and performance.
Playing the long game
Benefits from leadership coaching aren’t always immediate. While some changes, like improved communication, might be instantly evident, others, such as a boost in overall company morale and focus, will have an impact on results that are measured in years rather than weeks and quarters.
How our ROI Calculator can help
Given the importance and challenges of measuring the ROI of your Leadership Development program, we developed our ROI calculator to help. This is a fast and effective tool that combines insights and data to quickly estimate the impact of your leadership coaching program.
Why use the calculator?
- Saves time: No more drowning in spreadsheets or manually crunching numbers, we will do this for you.
- Transparency: Get a comprehensive snapshot of what your leadership coaching programme might deliver in terms of ROI
- Build your business case: When pushing for more budget, showing the potential impact can make all the difference
HR leaders, if you are looking to quantify the benefits of your leadership coaching, give our calculator a try here. It offers you a credible and effective way to measure the potential impact of your Leadership Development program, instantly.
With tools like Hellomonday’s calculator, HR leaders are better equipped to champion the cause of leadership development and ensure its success within the organisation.
